Karen Bua

In the spring of 1972, Karen Bua was a cheerleader at Pepperdine's Los Angeles campus. A sophomore, she was featured in the March issue of Coach & Athlete magazine. The Malibu Times raved, "WOOOOOOOW, Karen is a REAL page brightener!!!".¹

Bua moved to the new Malibu campus when it opened in the fall, where she became head cheerleader.² Bua and her squad came under fire on the front page of The Graphic in February 1973, with the president of the student body charging, "There is a lot of ill feeling toward the cheerleaders," and a Graphic editorial calling them "generally uninspired."³

In 1978, Bua married then-coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jerry West.